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Blogs from Chile, South America - page 2
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May 6th 2013
Another historical mystery of Rapa Nui is the birdman cult. After the moai had lost their meaning and warfair broke out among the clans a new cult arose. Every year a birdman was picked who would rule the island's society. Thus peace could be re-established. The sacret place for the rituals of the birdman cult can still be visited today. And what a place! At the rim of the crater Rano Kau the Rapa Nui built a small village called Orongo. On one side you look into the collapsed crater of the volcano, 200 metres deep and filled with water. Its steep walls encircle about 1,5 kilometre and open up on one side to the open ocean. On the other side of the crater rim the cliff drops right into the sea, about 300 metres deep. ... read more
May 5th 2013
Our first encounter with the stone statues, moai, on Easter Island took place at Ahu Vinapu at the north coast of the island. Typically arranged on a platform called ahu there are several moai in a row that faces the land, looking inwards from the sea. As it often is with iconic landmarks that you have seen many times on (arranged) photographs, reality can be a little disappointing. Our fist thought: This is just a pile of stones! The moai here were laying on their faces, some had even moved away from the ahu. We learned later that all moai have been pushed from their platforms during warfares between the island's clans. The moai cult then stopped and the statues that stand upright today are restored. After a less convincing experience with a guide we rented ... read more
Rapa Nui - island of stones
Published: May 10th 2013South America » Chile » Easter Island » Hanga Roa
May 4th 2013
The fascinating Rapa Nui (Easter Island), most remote inhabited place on earth, is our next stop. At least 3500 km to the neighbours it belongs to Chile thus Spanish is the official language. English works not that well. They also have another currency and are in a different time zone than Tahiti. Now we are 4 hours back again towards our own time. The island has a certain rough charm. The coasts are mostly steep and lined with the remains of volcanic eruptions. The waves are strong and make it impossible to go into the water almost everywhere. The views are however stunning, endless ocean wherever you look. The inland is mostly planes and cooled volcanoes right in the middle of them. Several hundred years ago the island was covered with palm trees but the islanders ... read more
Torres del Paine - The W trail.
Published: May 4th 2013South America » Chile » Magallanes » Torres del Paine
May 4th 2013
Torres Del Paine - The W trail. We left El Calafate for Puerto Natales on the bus after seeing two real life gauchos ride past us and head out for the plains while we were having breakfast. It was on our list of things to do to head out on horse back with a group of gauchos and catch our supper of steak over an open fire but unfortunately we didn't have time to do everything, especially if we want to catch up with these killer whales before they leave. We got to Hostel kaWesker around 1pm and checked in and were told by the owner Omar that at 3pm everyday there is a meeting about how to tackle the W trail safely that lasts anout an hour. I explained to Laura that the meeting would ... read more
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May 1st 2013
I've spent the last 2 months going between Chile and Argentina as I head north to Bolivia. My last weeks in these countries included some time in Salta ( minus the salt )and 4 nights in the Atacama desert in Chile ( plus the salt ) where it's dirty, gorgeous, hot and cold all at once. Salta was my last stop in Argentina, a pretty white city surrounded mountains. I only had a couple of days here and the first day I was sick (flu) so just checked out the town. I went to a really good museum which told the story of the inca children. This is my recollection of the story from what I seen, so don't hold me to the facts. The inca children were discovered by archaeologists only recently (1999) at the ... read more
April 27th 2013
What the heck?! I don't think my second part of Torres del Paine ever published itself, so here it is, in all its late glory. Africa really is coming up - promise! The journey in Torres del Paine continues… Day Five Today we awoke safe in the knowledge that the hard pass was over, though we were still aiming for 21km in total. Our cereal was now gone; we began the process of eating as much porridge as humanly possible, and achieved our aim over the next few days with great aplomb. Our hike today took us alongside the ice sheet up to Glaciar Grey and beyond, through forest and dirt paths, to viewpoints and a campsite complete with sofas and a log fire in their social room. Sadly, though, we only had time to stop ... read more
April 27th 2013
Pucon is a very nice town on the shore of Lake Villarica overlooked by the Volcano Villarica and it is only 5 1/2 hours away from Puerto Varas so a nice bus ride for us. We checked into a lovely hostel all wooden and heated by wood burners giving it a swiss chalet feel. Most people visiting Pucon have one goal in mind. Climbing the active volcano! A hike of 5hrs up. Crampons and ice picks required to scale the near vertical wall of ice to the summit, depending on the wind direction you then get to rest at the top inhaling toxic fumes before passing out and sliding back down. Marks knees have survived all our walks to now but we decided that this might be one step too far. We spent the first day ... read more
April 23rd 2013
We arrived in Puerto Varas after our 4 day stint on the Navimag exhausted from doing nothing. We had to spend the first day doing absolutely nothing. This is a lovely small town on lake llanquihue opposite Volcan Osorno in the chilean lake district, a very pituresque area. We hired bikes on our second day and cycled 64km to a nearby lakeside town called Frutilla. We found a lovely cafe and shared one of the bigest slices of cake you have ever seen, although it is easy to justify such things when you are cycling! The bike ride was wonderful, one we needed the exercise it felt great to be doing something again, and two the ride itself was fabulous. We followed the lake through undulating scenery passed small, pretty farms all with a view of ... read more
Apr 23 – Aéroport de Santiago. C’est la fin
Published: May 7th 2013South America » Chile » Santiago Region » Santiago
April 23rd 2013
C’est le départ, je ne réalise pas du tout, en tout cas j’en aurai bien profité. Survol des Andes majestueuses en guise d’au revoir, avec l’Aconcagua en toile de fond. >PDJ : je serai bien restée à continuer à visiter d’autres pays sud-américains ! **** http://youtu.be/knfw0CuCPRc... read more
